Grade Nine and Ten Applied Activities

Hello all!

Can you believe that another week has pasted and we are already into February of 2017? Time really does fly...

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This week in EDBE 8F83 we were presented with Grade Nine and Ten Applied learning activities. I presented my learning activity this week, which was a Grade Ten Applied activity from the
Quadratic Relations of the form y = ax² + bx + c strand. I was specifically focusing on the overall expectation "manipulate algebraic expressions, as needed to understand quadratic relations" and the specific expectation "factor simple trinomials of the form y = ax² + bx + c, using a variety of tools and strategies". The activity was a consolidation activity used to check understanding of factoring simple trinomials. I split the class into five groups and gave each group a trinomial and an incorrect solution. Students were instructed to correct the solution using algebra tiles and paper and pencil methods. Overall the activity went over well and I was happy with the result. One thing that I would have done differently is explain the proper use of the algebra tiles more effectively. I explained how to use the algebra tiles when the trinomial has all positives but I did not explain how to do this with negatives. It worked out okay for my presentation because our class is filled with teacher candidates that all took at least three university mathematics classes. My colleagues were able to infer how to how to use them, but Grade Ten Applied students would have struggled. Other than this small hiccup, I was very satisfied with my presentation. 

One other presentation that also went this past week was Rachelle's activity which had a Grade Nine Applied focus. Her activity used the TI-83 graphing calculators and the CBR (motion sensor attachment). This activity was used to teach linear relations and it was awesome. I really enjoyed being able to use the CBR to make connections between the graph and my physical motion in front of the sensor. I think this will be a great activity to use with students because they will benefit from the visual of actually being able to form their own graphs. I also liked that we (as the students) were so involved in the activity. Rachelle was constantly getting us to come up to the board or the document camera and contribute to the activity. This is a great habit to get into as a teacher. This gives students many opportunities to get engaged in the lesson, and really learn something.

After these presentations and having time to reflect on my own future classroom, I think that it is important to know your learners and focus your activities on how they learn. Most likely a typical class will have a mixture of learners in it. This means that incorporating many different types of instruction is important. Visual learners may really like algebra tiles because they give a great visual representation of trinomials. While kinesthetic learners may benefit from the CBR because it allows them to get up and move around the room. Depending on the nature of your learners, you can tailor your activities to them!